Sunday, June 7, 2015

Three Days at City Walls

Kian hunting for boulders at The City Walls.

I'd waited since October for another try at a great project out at The City Walls. Justin L. introduced me to the line last Fall, and it had been on my mind. But once we got back out there, I got completely distracted by a bunch of moderates at a place we're calling the Sage Sector.

"Fish in a Barrel" V1

"Cilantro" V3 SDS

The Warm Up Block

Sierra climbing "Sagebrush Sea" V3 SDS.

The boulder above also has a great V1 called "Sage" SDS and a contrived line called "Greater Sagebrush" V4/5 SDS that off routes the arete on the right and the large flakes out left.

This boulder has a very low starting jug that leads to two problems. "Awkward" SDS goes right at V2, and "Inappropriate" V3 SDS uses slopers on the left side to reach the highest point.

Ashley climbing "Tenacious D" V2 SDS. "School of Rock" V2 SDS goes up the arete on the left. And "Tribute" V1 SDS goes up a crack/rail left of the arete that isn't shown in this photo.

After climbing thirteen new "warm ups" we were too worked to even get on the main project.

After one rest day we went back to The City Walls, and warmed up on this short cube on the east side of the southernmost formation. We were covered in sunscreen, a steady breeze was blowing, birds were calling, and the air smelled like water from the marsh below. The atmosphere reminded us all of our trips to Hawaii, so we named this block the Hawaii boulder.

Ashley topping out on "The Hoff" a V3 with a SDS to the right.

We climbed a few warm ups on the Hawaii Boulder, and had some tries on a harder project. But pretty quickly we moved on to what I dubbed the "Technicolor Project." Named after the many colorful lichens found on the wall.

We didn't finish it that day, but we thought it was possible. On our next day out there Kian came out to try it with us. We all gave it strong tries with various sequences. Eventually Ashley unlocked the crux by adding a high step to our original sequence, and sent the project. It was cool to watch it happen.

Here's video of the entire line, so you can watch it happen too.

I had rapped the line hoping that the line could top out straight up. And it might be possible if one is willing to use micro-crimp flakes above a high and uneven landing. The obvious line of holds leads off to the stance on the left, so that is what we decided to do. Even without a traditional top out, this is one of the best V6/7 lines in the Lander area. I'll get back to finish it myself when we get another cool day.

To finish the session we returned to the Hawaii Boulder. Kian added a SDS to one of our warm ups, which made it a much better problem.

Kian getting the F.A. of "Ancient Hawaiian Saying" V3

And that wraps up the first few sessions of our Summer. Now that we've finished most of the undone gems at City Walls, and the weather is warming up, it's time to move on to shaded stone in cooler places...